Salü from Zürich

I sit here in my hotel in Zuerich, reflecting on my most recent two trips to the homeland of my ancestors (that would be Europe, folks) and have some up with the a few observations:

• England from the air looks like the American eastern seaboard - no gridded roads - that's what you get for being inhabited for the better part of 2000 years.
• Some Europen countries (most specifically, France) have a reputation for a lack of personal hygene. I believe I have discovered the root of this reputation, though it is not limited to the French. I have stayed in 4 hotels in Europe this far in three countries, and not one provided wash cloths as part of their standard bath linens. I had to ask for one in London and was told that the class of my room does not allow for one!?!?!? With some trepidation, she gave me one anyway. How can one exfoliate? From now on, I pack my own.
• International Terminals are not really for Customs or Security, they are an opportunity to seel you goods without tax that, in most cases, can be found elsewhere more cheaply. Basically it is a big shopping mall with an airplane ride at the end.
• While we're on travel, in Europe, for those of you not geographically adept, a land closer to the "evil terrorists", you do not have to take you shoes and belts off, or electronics out of your bags in airport security. Intelligently, they have chosen to work against the next threat instead of the last.
• A $7 bottle of water can be worth it.

I would also like to thank my über-mench, Shazbot, for his linguistic rescue yesterday while washing my clothes at a Swiss laundromat. Most of this country, items are labled in four languages - German, French, Italian, and English. Unfortunately, yesterday I found the limit of this rule - the closest laundromat to this hotel. Not knowing the language, I managed to wash my clothes, with fabric softener and rinse them with soap -- good times. Once I realized my error, the soapy clothes after the rinse cycle were my first clue, I gave Shazbot a call. He set me straight and my clothes have never been so clean, having been washed twice. In homage, on the Flickr postings, I give you a Swiss botancial example of Shazbot's finest horticultural work.

And last but not least, I have for you on Flickr, a picture of BBM. But this is not just any picture, this is a picture of BBM and his brother and "stunt monkey", Baby Baby Maury - the other brother, Baby Baby Maurice, is holding down the fort at home. BBM2 joined us on this trip as, due to his celebrity, BBM is too valuable to do his own stunts anymore.

I have tried for the better part of the last hour trying to get images published to this site from here, without success. I will defer photo postings to Flickr , which has much better tools than Blogger for uploading images over slow connections. Sorry for all the text....